Fans have thought a lot about Doctor Strange’s role in Avengers: Infinity War. When the sorcerer hands over the Time Stone to Thanos, giving him the means to destroy half the universe, conventional wisdom has it that he secretly knows what he’s doing. Most agree that he believes he has to do this in order to make the one timeline in which the Avengers win come to pass, and not the 14 billion others where things go wrong. Even the Russo brothers have suggested that this is the case.
Clearly, then, Strange could be something of a master puppeteer, orchestrating events while – for some reason – withholding his actual plans from his allies. But it is possible that he’s actually pulling more strings than we initially thought? Is Strange actually responsible for what happens in Infinity War’s post-credits scene, when Nick Fury summons Captain Marvel?
That’s what this new fan theory suggests, anyway. According to one Reddit user, Strange could have traveled back in time – perhaps giving him a cameo in Captain Marvel – to warn the younger Fury that he’ll need to contact Carol Danvers at some stage in the future. The theorist says this could explain Strange’s namecheck in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and even give some extra context to Fury’s remarks in the post-credits scene.
“Doctor strange knows what happens in the future, he sets it up in fact. He knew that Thanos had to snap his fingers at that exact right time and under all these certain conditions for them to win. He’s setting up Captain Marvel’s return to Earth. I believe he’ll appear in the CM movie and tell Fury it is vital for him to carry around with him the pager to contact Captain Marvel. Nick Fury, knowing about Steven Strange lists him as an ally to shield which of course is how Hydra knows about him despite him being a neurosurgeon (anyone who is an ally of SHIELD is a threat to HYDRA).
Continuing on, the theory reads:
He warns him of an event in the future refering [sic] to the people turning to dust without warning, this is why Fury’s instant reaction to seeing Maria Hill turn to ash was to run to the pager, but what our good friend Sorcerer Supreme didn’t mention was the fact that he does not survive hence the “Mother Fu…” at the very end. We should also take note that the way he says it isn’t paniced [sic] or scared, he’s confident that Strange knows what he’s doing.”
Honestly, this is a really solid idea, and one that we could actually see coming to fruition. After all, it’d certainly be thrilling to have Strange turn up in Captain Marvel, in a way that would tie the film more strongly into the upcoming Avengers 4. Fury’s last words also get even funnier if you imagine that he’s actually cursing at Strange for leaving out the fact that he was going to die, too.
Likewise, all this talk of time travel would neatly dovetail with the plot of Avengers 4, which we believe will jump forward in time a few years and then also travel back through some of the landmark movies in the MCU. If you ask us, this Avengers: Infinity War theory could really be onto something.
